S03.E05: Burning in Water, Drowning in Flame

[CloudySky]

20 hours ago, Ocean Chick said:

Oh, I know that they are not all that far from each other.  But they all left at different times, in different directions, with different means of locomotion.  So if Nick, say, headed east initially, I'd assume he'd stay in that direction for more than 100 feet.  So say he went east 10 miles before heading north.  And say Travis and Chris headed south east first and went 20 miles towards the east.  And Madison and family headed due north.  In that terrain, with no city lights to guide them, they could all have walked within a mile of each other and easily missed the other groups, instead of every single still--alive person meeting up with others from their group.  But I'll suspend my disbelief for a bit more.  After all, I suspended it enough to believe that Travis saw something lovable/admirable in Madison that was enough to draw him to her (oh, how I miss Liza!).  Heh.

Wasn't Nick walking specifically towards Tijuana when he found Luciana's community? I don't remember if there was a reason for that. Like, was Madison's group headed to Tijuana too? Regardless, that was only 100 miles from the burned down compound and Madison was specifically going in circles looking for Nick for two days before settling in the nearby hotel. Then the hotel lady specifically went to the supermarket that Luciana's group and all surrounding groups go to so that is how they found each other. It was coincidental but there was a reason for it, not just random.

Travis and Chris was harder to believe that's why they needed Madison to light up the hotel at the exact same time that Travis could see it. But again, he was looking for her and that strip of Mexico isn't as populated as the USA so I assume there is only the main road and a logical direction to follow because the rest is desert.

Then Nick saw the helicopters and went to that army base at the border. The pharmacist told Madison that Nick went to the border and again, if you follow the main road from Tijuana to the border I'd assume you'll wind up at that base.

Of course Strand would end up knowing the dam guy where Daniel just happened to end up but that is tv. Point is, there were very specific reasons for why they ended up where they ended up. They aren't just wandering along miles of desert and happening to run into each other.

 

I'm over Ophelia. I don't even care about the character anymore nor do I want her back. She wasn't developed enough to miss her. The actress said that they scrapped her storyline at the end of last season because apparently she had filmed something. I wonder if they are still planning on using that footage or if they came up with something else entirely. But it's so weird that she's not in the show because isn't she a regular? And nobody cares enough for it to be a mystery because to the main characters she isn't even missing. Other than Daniel of course who is JUST back himself.

[Guest]

On 6/27/2017 at 2:31 PM, Raven1707 said:

06-04-17 “Eye of the Beholder” 3.109 million
06-04-17 “The New Frontier” 2.698 million
06-11-17 “Teotwawki” 2.504 million
06-18-17 “100" 2.396 million
06-25-17 “Burning in Water, Drowning in Flame” 2.499 million

That's a relatively substantial uptick, there...

I disagree. If you ignore the numbers for 100, the show continues its gradual decline.  I believe that 100,000 people did what I did when I found out that 100 was not in English.  We skipped it. 

[Haleth]

Maybe the uptick that stopped the slide was because 100 was so good and viewers were hoping the quality would continue this past week.  

[SnarkyTart]

2 hours ago, Haleth said:

Maybe the uptick that stopped the slide was because 100 was so good and viewers were hoping the quality would continue this past week.  

I know that's true, at least for me.  I always grab the spoilers prior to each episode to decide whether to watch it live, or wait until whenever it's convenient, if ever.  I watched "100" in real time specifically for Daniel and Strand.  I not only didn't mind that the episode was in Spanish, I enjoyed it for the authentic feeling.  Now that Daniel and Strand aren't being featured (again!), I'm back to watching it "whenever".  In the case of Madison-centric episodes, that may be never.

[Raven1707]

Apparently they skipped the Cable Live +3 ratings report for "Burning in Water, Drowning in Flame" but we've got this:

Here are the top cable shows in the Live +7 rankings for June 19-25, 2017. Rankings include original series, movies and specials only, not repeats.

http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/dvr-ratings/doctor-who-quadruples-in-18-49-cable-live-7-ratings-for-june-19-25/

These are the Cable Live + Same Day, Live +3 (when reported), and Live +7 ratings for Season 3 so far:

06-04-17 “Eye of the Beholder” 3.109 million; 4.656 million; 5.076 million
06-04-17 “New Frontier” 2.698 million; 4.180 million; 4.628 million
06-11-17 “Teotwawki” 2.504 million; 3.803 million; 4.222 million
06-18-17 “100" 2.396 million; 3.658 million; 4.071 million
06-25-17 “Burning in Water, Drowning in Flame” 2.499 million; not reported; 4.179 million

[wrlord]

On 6/27/2017 at 4:37 AM, Nashville said:

Er... contrary to every western John Wayne ever made, scalping wasn't an Indian thing ...

You seem to be completely unfamiliar with John Wayne movies.

[Nashville]

2 hours ago, wrlord said:

You seem to be completely unfamiliar with John Wayne movies.

Familiar enough to know mention of scalpings were commonly part of the dialogue.  Or do you have some other point I'm missing?

[English Teacher]

On 6/26/2017 at 9:59 AM, nodorothyparker said:

While I enjoyed Strand and Daniel's bitchy road trip such as it was, it failed for me when I finally had to concede that for once Strand didn't have a plan and was just hoping for what? when he finally led Daniel back to the abandoned hotel?  He just watched Daniel singlehandedly resolve the situation at the dam and dispose of some very nasty people, which should have laid to rest any stray notions he might have had about Daniel being someone you do not want to fuck with.  So what exactly was he hoping to get out of leading Daniel on what was essentially a wild goose chase?  If there's been any consistency in the writing over the seasons, it's been that Strand is usually one of the smarter people in the room and that he's already figured out at least one angle to benefit from.  He's also generally not one for wasted efforts or resources.  There was none of that in driving Daniel back to a hotel he knew Ofelia had already disappeared from on her own power or that anyone in Madison's crew who could have verified his story had also departed.

The rest of this episode, I just don't know.  I did like the cold open of the old couple dealing with the much discussed on boards but completely ignored on screen scenario of a partner dying in their sleep and turning during the night.  I chortled at the woman attempting to gum her husband to death.  But of course then the show had to turn it into a tortured maudlin thing for Nick to romanticize to a woman he's been with for about five minutes.  In a burnt out building, nonetheless.  I zoned out during most of whatever those seemingly unending scenes between Nick and Otto were so I'm still not sure what they were supposed to be about, but I gather Otto has fallen under Nick's magical manic junkie spell as well?

I'll admit I find the premise that with the sudden absence of a federal government or outside authority to enforce anything that these separate groups are scrambling to claim resources and settle longrunning disputes over borders and land one of the more interesting and realistic premises either show in the franchise has ever attempted to tackle.  I just have my doubts this show is actually up to the task.  But the visual of the whiny survivalists having to walk barefoot back through the desert because the Indians got the drop on them was pretty amusing.  I hope this actually goes somewhere.

I still have no idea what the Madison-Troy story is supposed to be.  It seems like they're going for something about his mommy issues, but it often comes off as some sort of terrible flirting/foreplay thing.

The Daniel/ Strand road trip with no possible good resolution reminded me of the Seinfeld episode when George drove his almost in laws to the nonexistent country home.   What was Strand thinking?!?

On 6/27/2017 at 7:37 AM, Nashville said:

Just an FYI - You left out the hotel, the clearing of which accounted for a solid week and a half at the very least.

 

To anybody who saw Hannibal, not surprising.  ;)

 

Immaterial - they're not in Mexico any more.  Not according to the story line, any way.  ;>

 

Er... contrary to every western John Wayne ever made, scalping wasn't an Indian thing - not originally, anyway.  That was something the Europeans started against the Indians.  

 

On on a side note -  I was really really disappointed TPTB decided to punt the writing and relegate the new community to the default rednecks-on-the-range trope.  I can get how that better facilitated development of the story line for the OTHER default angry-Indians-uprising trope, but still....

Yes! Thank you!